In PHOTOS: Allied forces target Libyan ground forces

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

The United States and its allied forces on Thursday shifted focus on hitting Libyan ground forces, targeting tanks and artillery to obliterate Muammar Gaddafi's war waging machine, as French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned that the campaign may go on for weeks.

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Image: Destroyed military vehicles are seen at a naval military facility after coalition air strikes in People's Port in eastern TripoliPhotographs: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

The shift to attack the ground forces came after coalition commanders claimed that Libyan air force had been completely destroyed and that the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation warplanes had total sway of the Libyan sky.

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Image: A view of a naval military facility damaged by coalition air strikes in eastern TripoliPhotographs: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

The massive strikes on Gaddafi's ground forces, including his big Armada of tanks, mobile rocket launchers, heavy guns and short range battle missiles, mark the second phase of operation 'Odysses Dawn', British air vice marshal Greg Bagwell said.

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Image: People look at weapons belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, destroyed by a coalition air strike, along a road between Benghazi and AjdabiyahPhotographs: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

Gaddafi's airforce "no longer exists a fighting force," Bagwell said as a flotilla of NATO warships patrolled Libya's coast to enforce an arms embargo against Gaddafi. As the allied operation entered the sixth day, French foreign minister Juppe said the campaign would continue.

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

"It will last for days and weeks. But, not months," he said, spelling out for the first time the expected duration of the military campaign. The French minister was speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a crucial European Union-NATO meeting to discuss how to coordinate airstrikes on Libya.

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Image: French Mirage 2000 fighter jets at the military air base of Solenzara, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, where France runs its military operation against LibyaPhotographs: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

The coalition warplanes pounded the rebel-held city of Misruta, forcing Gaddafi's forces to pull back from the outskirts of the city, but residents said by nightfall the tanks and artillery had renewed their the shelling on the city which is virtually under siege. Similar strikes were aimed at Gaddafi's forces stalking the towns of Adjabiyah and Zintan.

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Image: A Libyan holds a poster of Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi at a naval military facility damaged by coalition air strikes last night in eastern TripoliPhotographs: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

"The air attacks continued day and night on Wednesday and resumed this morning on Gaddafi's ground forces in both Misurata in the west and Adjabiyah in the east," the admiral said as NATO's top military commander US admiral James Stavridis flew into Turkey to hold talks with Turkish military leaders who are holding up an agreement for NATO to take over command of Operation Odyssey.

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Image: A man looks at destroyed weapons belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after a coalition air strike, along a road between Benghazi and AjdabiyaPhotographs: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

The allied forces also continued Tomahawk missile strikes and air bombing of the Libyan capital Tripoli. The BBC correspondent said the city was rocked by seven explosions and witnesses said a military base at Tajura, 32 kms east of the capital was hit.

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Image: People walk next to destroyed weapons belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after a coalition air strike, along a road between Benghazi and AjdabiyaPhotographs: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

Al Jazeera said eight explosions were also heard in the east of the capital on Wednesday night.

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Image: A boot belonging to a soldier loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is seen on a destroyed tank after an air strike by coalition forces, along a road between Benghazi and AjdabiyaPhotographs: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

JANA said the latest raid had targeted rescue workers who were trying to remove the dead and wounded from the rubble left by the first two raids.

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Image: A man looks at destroyed weapons belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after a coalition air strike, along a road between Benghazi and AjdabiyaPhotographs: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

Although the endgame in Libya remains unclear, US defence secretary Robert Gates, now on a farewell visit to Egypt, said that mounting pressure on Gaddafi could encourage his inner circle and even members of his family to turn on him.

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Image: A fighter jet bursts into flames after being shot down over the rebel-held Libyan city of BenghaziPhotographs: Reuters TV

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

"I think there are any number of possible outcomes here, and no one is in a position to predict them," Gates said. A US commander said the allies flew 175 sorties in 24 hours, and the US flew 113 of those.

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Image: People stand near bodies that are under a blanket, of Muammar Gaddafi loyalist soldiers killed in what residents said was an airstrikePhotographs: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

French defence minister Gerard Longuet, meanwhile, said France had destroyed about 10 Libyan armoured vehicles over three days. However, there was no let up in Gaddafi forces' shelling of the rebel-held cities.

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Image: A rebel fighter looks at burning vehicles belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi after an air strike by coalition forcesPhotographs: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Aliied forces target Gaddafi's ground forces

In the coastal city of Misurata, around 200km east of Tripoli, government snipers fired indiscriminately, killing 16 people, Al Jazeera reported. It quoted a rebel spokesman as saying that four children were killed in the city on Tuesday as regime forces pressed their siege.

Image: A rebel fighter looks at a burning vehicle belonging forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after an air strike by coalition forcesPhotographs: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters